James Croft
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jamesmcroft.bsky.social
James Croft
@jamesmcroft.bsky.social
🇬🇧 Software Engineer on Azure at Microsoft focused on AI engineering. Empowering ISVs and Startups to succeed. Opinions are my own. He/him. #Azure #OpenAI
Pinned
Hey everyone 👋 Let's start this with an intro!

I'm a Brit living in Yorkshire, currently working for Microsoft as an SWE on Azure helping ISVs & Startups.

You can expect me to be more social here, with occasional photos of my cats 📸🙀 As well as sharing insights on engineering and AI too!
The role of developers is evolving, whether we want to accept it or not.

Today, we can realize the potential of commanding AI programmers to solutionize. The only limit... your creativity!

www.jamescroft.co.uk/commanding-a...
Commanding AI programmers, realizing your creativity - James Croft
Explore how commanding AI programmers fosters creativity and efficiency for developers harnessing the power of your imagination.
www.jamescroft.co.uk
March 18, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Decided to convert the top drawer in my IKEA office drawers into a cat bed... Daisy instantly took a liking to it 😂
February 7, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by James Croft
It's a tool, tools have a purpose. Use generative AI when gen AI is the best fit for the task. Use discriminative AI when discriminative AI is best for the task. Use deterministic logic when deterministic logic is the best for the task.

Some `if` statements just don't need to be replaced w/ models.
January 31, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Turns out my phone got stolen...

I had 15 minutes to get across Schiphol Airport to catch my connecting flight and I ran like the wind with it!

Love this new Theft Detection feature that locks your phone if someone steals it, then moves really fast away.

It worked, but not as intended 😂
January 31, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Started the year off with a night time winter light trail run!

Not a PB but thoroughly enjoyed the route 🏃🏅
January 4, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by James Croft
December 21, 2024 at 3:34 PM
🚀 I created this new quickstart template providing you everything you need to setup a new Azure AI Content Understanding project in the Azure AI Foundry, complete with Microsoft Entra ID authentication.

Get the template here 👉 github.com/jamesmcroft/...

#Azure #AI #ContentUnderstanding
December 21, 2024 at 5:08 PM
QOL improvement to the unofficial Azure OpenAI Image Token Calculator!

You can now select presets for common print and web image sizes. Want to work out how many tokens a 10-page document would cost to process with GPT-4o? Now you can!

jamesmcroft.github.io/openai-image...
December 5, 2024 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by James Croft
So who wants a verified 'Microsoft' and 'Microsoft MVP' label on their profile and all the posts?

I just finished setting up @bluesky.ms as a labelling service.

Go subscribe to the label to start seeing labels on verified MVPs and Microsofties.

🧵👇
November 26, 2024 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by James Croft
I asked the electrician:
- How bad is the previous installation?
He replied:
- This isn’t that bad, things change over time, things get old. You measure a good implementation on how easy it is to replace. This one is easy to replace.

I love that way of thinking, it relates to programming as well.
November 22, 2024 at 10:11 AM
Reposted by James Croft
We are beyond excited to announce the Service Bus local emulator! This has been the most requested feature for Service Bus, and today is the day.

You can find the official announcement at techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/messagi....
November 19, 2024 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by James Croft
My team has had a lot of fun working on the AI Dev Gallery and we are excited to share it with the world. Experiment with models and local AI in your Windows apps - get it here: github.com/microsoft/ai...

#WindowsApps #AI #DevTools
November 19, 2024 at 8:23 PM
I'm not the only one fascinated with the advancements in security for AI #MSIgnite
November 19, 2024 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by James Croft
There are a ton of announcements across soooo many products and services. We put all the amazing #MSIgnite news in the Book of News.

news.microsoft.com/ignite-2024-...
Microsoft Ignite 2024 Book of News
The Book of News is your guide to all key items being announced at Microsoft Ignite 2024.
news.microsoft.com
November 19, 2024 at 3:19 PM
Excited about the announcement of our new Azure AI Content Understanding service! A content processing pipeline that can take documents, audio, and video to generate structured, actionable insights with confidence to reduce human intervention!

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/azure-a...

#MSIgnite
November 19, 2024 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by James Croft
Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions updates at #MSIgnite

✨ Generally available: Python code interpreter
✨ Generally available: Custom container
✨ Public preview: JavaScript code interpreter

Plus: Dynamic sessions powers Microsoft Copilot

aka.ms/Ignite24/Blo...
Azure Container Apps dynamic sessions general availability, and more | Microsoft Community Hub
Python code interpreter and custom sessions are now GA. JavaScript code interpreter in public preview. Microsoft Copilot uses Azure Container Apps dynamic...
aka.ms
November 19, 2024 at 1:55 PM
If you're exploring GenAI for extracting structured data from unstructured or structured documents for downstream processing, I recommend checking out my updated article evaluating various techniques and models.

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/azurefo...

#Azure #OpenAI #Phi
Evaluating the quality of AI document data extraction with small and large language models
Evaluating the effectiveness of AI models in document data extraction. Comparing accuracy, speed, and cost-effectiveness between Small and Large Language...
techcommunity.microsoft.com
November 19, 2024 at 11:09 AM
I have a feeling these two are enjoying their first fire of the Autumn 😸
November 16, 2024 at 6:41 PM
Hey everyone 👋 Let's start this with an intro!

I'm a Brit living in Yorkshire, currently working for Microsoft as an SWE on Azure helping ISVs & Startups.

You can expect me to be more social here, with occasional photos of my cats 📸🙀 As well as sharing insights on engineering and AI too!
November 16, 2024 at 7:50 AM